Memoirs of A Geisha-- For Those Reading Through

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Use this thread if you are reading through the book and you want to talk about it. For example, if you are anything like me, if something crazy happens in a book I always want to talk about it right after it happens! It's also nice to discuss with others who are reading through it. Please make sure at the top of every thing you post you have a SPOILER warning and say up to what page you are on.

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

I don't think I'll have time to re-read this one but I definitely will be participating in any discussion!

Going into reading this one, I really had no idea what a geisha is or what they did. I kind of thought there Japanese prostitutes..just with a fancy name! Are any of you familiar with the life of a geisha or Japanese culture?

[Andrew]

So far I'm really impressed with the way the author is presenting a foreign culture. I don't feel like it's difficult to understand and everything is presented in an easily digested way. I don't know too much about Japanese culture, but my lack of knowledge doesn't interfere with the story as a whole.

[Ashley]

Wow - I've been instantly absorbed into this book. I decided to buy it on my nook even though I have absolulutey ZERO time to read it, and now I can't pull myself away. This is going to be seriously detrimental to my midterms.

That aside, I adore the way that Golden is writing. I've studied and been to China (which is, clearly, very different) but their culture does have some similarities and I am thoroughly impressed with how easily he slips them in. So much of his writing is poetry. I'm totally fascinated. Obvioulsy I'm not finished yet, but I think this was a great choice for the group read!

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Andrew--That is what I really appreciated about it! I hate when you feel like maybe you should have read the history of a certain country/culture before you read it. He really did a great job teaching you about the culture as you went but not in an obvious sort of way.

Ashley--I felt the same way! I was actually surprised at how pulled into the story I was. I could not put this one down!

[Jessie]

I started this book only the other day, so I'm not too far yet, but I'm really liking it. Golden's writing is very lyrical. I know very little about Japanese culture so I'm excited to learn some through this book.

And Ashley, I totally agree, I probably shouldn't have started this book at this point in the semester.

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Jessie-- Isn't his writing just fantastic? I thought, because it was so popular, that the writing was going to be sub-par but I was blown away!

You will definitely learn a lot about Japanese culture! I can't wait to hear your overall thoughts about the book!

[Jessie]

Jamie, I wasn't expecting the writing to be this good either! I usually try to stay away from books with so much hype because I find the writing poor, but I'm so happy that I didn't ignore this book.

[Kelly A.]

I'm about halfway through and I'm really enjoying it, much more so than I thought I would!

I'm also reading through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and between Umbridge from that book and Hatsumomo from this book, I've have my share of mean/evil characters lately.

[Ashley]

Kelly A. wrote: "I'm about halfway through and I'm really enjoying it, much more so than I thought I would!

I'm also reading through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and between Umbridge from th..."

Haha! Oh dear, I wonder which one is worse? I think I would maybe go with Umbridge for being worse - at least we can "feel" for Hatsumomo in how hard the life of a geisha can be... we could say she just didn't react to the trauma well. Umbridge, it seems, was just /born/ evil!